DuPont cleanup focus of White Lake meeting

The ongoing process and recent upgrades being used for treatment of DuPont's contaminated site in the Montague area will be the focus of this week's White Lake Public Advisory Council event.

DuPont produced chemical products for food preservation, air conditioning and medical devices at the White River Township location before ceasing operations in 1995. The company remains responsible for extensive groundwater contamination cleanup on the 1,330-acre site.

The Public Advisory Council is hosting the gathering at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Whitehall City Hall, 405 E. Colby Street. The council studies the condition of White Lake, its surrounding area and lobbies for measures to protect it.

Thomas Stilley, project director for the DuPont Corporate Remediation Group based in Wilmington, Del., will be providing an update on the company's remediation program status on the site. He will make a presentation and take questions.

Stilley said his presentation will highlight on DuPont's construction of a "major upgrade/modernization" to the Montague site's groundwater treatment system. DuPont is nearing completion of the project.

"For the upgrade project, we are installing two new pumping wells, a new pipeline to convey the water (from the wells back to the treatment plant), and replacing most of the valves, instrumentation and controls for the treatment system," Stilley wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle.

The treatment plant is located in DuPont's former manufacturing area, which takes up about 300 acres.

Some of the DuPont property north of Montague has frontage on White Lake and Lake Michigan, and portions of the site have been described by the Department of Natural Resources as pristine and rich in animal and plant life.

When company operations ceased in 1995, there were 11 chemical dumps on the property, at least two of which are considered significant by environmentalists and state officials.